'Avengers: Infinity War': Everything you need to know about the 'epic' Marvel throwdown

'Avengers: Infinity War' is the culmination of a decade and more than a dozen movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether you've missed a few or you need a refresher, we'll get you up to date so you're ready to see the "Super Bowl of superhero films."
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Avengers: Infinity War has more Marvel movie superheroes than you can throw a mystical hammer at, and audience members should prepare to navigate just as many emotions.

"You're paying for a ticket to go see a movie — for some people, it might cost up to $20. You want to be able to laugh and cry, feel happy and sad, get angry, be inspired. A movie should do all of those things," says Joe Russo, who directed Infinity War, the 19th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with brother Anthony. "We like the movie to reflect the world they're living in as much as possible, and we're in a complicated world right now, so it's complicated storytelling."

The third Avengers movie — which the Russos filmed back-to-back with the fourth, out May 3, 2019 — pits invading cosmic villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) against the original Avengers like Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as newer do-gooders such as Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman).

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The Marvel Universe joins forces to fight Thanos in 'Avengers: Infinity War,' and the trailer is everything.
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"It is so bananas," Downey teases. "Hunter S. Thompson could not have come up with a more deliciously oddball and strangely meaningful set of circumstances than these characters all wind up in."

Whether you've seen all the Marvel movies so far or are still catching up, here's what you need to know going into Infinity War (officially opening Friday, though theaters will show it Thursday night):

Prefer to listen? Check out the spoiler-free review of "Avengers: Infinity War" on USA TODAY's geek culture podcast, The Mothership.

The Avengers are still broken up (for now).

The new film picks up from the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, where "the family had been divided," says Anthony Russo. Iron Man and Captain America had a climactic faceoff for the life of Cap's best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), leaving Cap a fugitive of the law and Bucky in the care of Black Panther in Wakanda. They'll have to get it together with the coming of Thanos, but "the history that these characters have traveled together is very important to us. It's not something that just washes away."

Captain America (Chris Evans) has lost faith and trust in his superhero family as "Avengers: Infinity War" starts.(Photo: CHUCK ZLOTNICK)

Captain America has gone rogue.

Steve Rogers has dealt with a lot of disillusionment from being a World War II super-soldier, losing a sense of home after being encased in ice for 70 years and now having lost the trust and faith he had in his Avengers family at the end of Civil War. "He is a little untethered for the first time in his life, and he's not answering to anybody," Evans says. "It's almost a survival mechanism: Just in order to cope with circumstance, you shut the lights off. He still has the heart of a servant, he still wants to help, and he is a selfless person by nature, so he can't help not contributing in some format, but it's not for anybody other than himself."

Iron Man, meet Doctor Strange.

Infinity War brings together a lot of heroes who've never shared screen time, like Black Panther's tech-savvy sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) schooling the hulking science mind of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Spider-Man exchanging quips with Doctor Strange. "You come out there, you do a scene with a hero you haven't worked with before, and people are giddy," says producer and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. He loves the first meeting of the minds between Downey's Tony Stark and Cumberbatch's Strange: "That was always something we were anticipating that we'd build the movie around." Adds Joe Russo: "These are two narcissists, so when you put them together, it's like two betta fish in a tank. It's not going to work out so great." Downey is also a fan of the awesome facial hair bros and just new blood in general. "I keep saying we need fresh reindeer because some of the old mule deer are getting a little ragged," he quips. "They come in, they start pulling their weight and they start bringing you in new directions, and you go, 'Oh, wow, that's right. It's a team sport.' "

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) watched his magical hammer get destroyed in his last cinematic outing, but the thunder god gets a new weapon in "Avengers: Infinity War."(Photo: MARVEL STUDIOS)

Thor's got a new weapon!

The thunder god watched in disbelief as his evil long-lost sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) destroyed his magical hammer Mjolnir in Thor: Ragnarok. Now on a mission with the Guardians of the Galaxy in Infinity War, Thor receives a replacement accessory to pound bad guys with, and it's part of an "epic" makeover taking the character "in a whole other direction," teases Hemsworth, who remains mum on the weapon's cool powers and origin. But he does allow that it "really ratcheted up" Thor's battle techniques. "It changes the physicality of the fighting style, and there's a different sort of attitude that comes with that."

Thanos (Josh Brolin) is out to smash superheroes and grab some Infinity Stones in "Avengers: Infinity War."(Photo: MARVEL STUDIOS)

Infinity War is a bit of a heist film.

Thanos is an antagonistic figure who connects every part of the Marvel movie universe, Anthony Russo says, and his quest for the Infinity Stones led the directors to structure Infinity War's story using 1990s crime flicks like Out of Sight and 2 Days in the Valley as creative inspiration. "Thanos is going after the stones and he's one step ahead of the heroes and it's kind of like a smash-and-grab," he says. Joe Russo adds that the film takes the "unique choice" of being told partly from the point of view of Thanos, a charismatic Genghis Khan-type conqueror who tests the good guys' collective mettle. "The question we're asking with the movie is, what does it cost to be a hero in a complicated world? And does the value of doing what's right outweigh the cost? We needed a villain who could extract a heavy price from the heroes to answer that question."

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